Presenting Lucy Collins
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day six hundred and thirty-one: Lucy's audition is going to be a surprise, not just for the Club but for the band, too.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 30th cycle. Now cycle 31!_

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><p><strong>Hear that little bird twitter!<strong> _Been thinking about doing this for a couple days, then this morning decided to just go for it. If you go there, find 'gleekathon' and there I'll be. There's also a video explaining everything... Yep... ;) Check it out!_

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><p><strong>"Presenting Lucy Collins"<br>Artie/Lucy (OC), Will, New Directions, Jazz Ensemble  
>Lucy Series #4 (following "Boot Camp") <strong>

They had fixed the date, the week before, to get themselves ready. Still the closer they got to it, the more Artie could feel how nervous she was, even after all the preparation they'd done. When they'd work together, she'd put on a smile, everything fine. But when she didn't think he could see her, he could see the nerves re-emerge. He still couldn't believe how much she didn't understand how perfect she was for this, how it was where she belonged. He just hoped this day would be the one to turn things around… for all of them.

All this preparation, it had done at least one more thing… it brought them closer together. They were friends now, without a doubt, but… but… It was no stretch by any means for him to realize how he was seeing her as a lot more than that. But… it didn't mean he could do anything about it. There was still fear of doing the wrong thing and losing her.

The night before, he had been bombarded with a continuous stream of text messages, which made it seem like she was either having a panic attack, a bout of asthma, or a complete mental and nervous breakdown. He answered every last one of them, diligent, trying to spin each one in a direction that would soothe her nerves. It was probably a good thing that this was by text, or she might have been offended to see how he just found it amusing and how it just made her adorable to him.

He wasn't sure what he would find when he showed up at school the next day, if Lucy would come at all. Last he'd heard, she wanted to change her song… again. She had never actually changed it, had kept the same one all along, but there had been a lot of times where she'd pondered the option of changing it, to which he had continued to say that it was up to her, but he thought the one she had was already great. He didn't see her all day; this had to be one of those days where their paths didn't actually cross until it came time for Glee Club. He hadn't even seen her at lunch, which admittedly could happen, but it still made him wonder if she hadn't made a run for it…

But then he got to Glee Club, and there she was, standing with the band like always. Their eyes met, but they didn't have time to speak at all before Schuester arrived and called everyone to attention. It was kind of a thrill... no one knew this was coming, not Schuester, not the club, not the band… While it was thrilling for him though, he knew for her it was a whole other story. One of her biggest concerns had been this whole concept of crossing the line, going from one side to the other. She wondered what the club would think of it, sure, but mostly she was concerned for the band and how they would react. Would they feel like she was abandoning them, that she didn't want to be one of them anymore? None of this was true, and for all they knew they wouldn't think it either, but the possibility of it just plagued her. As well-rounded of a girl as she could be, this was the thing that tipped the scales.

Artie waited for the right moment to raise his hand. There had been some debate about whether to have her audition at the beginning or at the end. One way she risked getting thrown into things too quickly but the other way she risked not getting the time to audition at all… So before Schuester could launch into giving them their weekly assignment, up went Artie's hand. "Yes, Artie?" he asked. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Mr. Schue, if I may? There's someone who would like to audition." Will showed surprise at this.

"An audition? Uh, sure," his surprise turned into some excitement, at the prospect of a new member. "When would this person like to audition?"

"Today, if that's possible. Right now would be even better," Artie replied.

"Okay, well I guess we can do that, just need to go get…"

"She's already here. She's been here," he had to smirk, turning his head to look at her, in the middle of the band. The collected eyes of club, director, pianist, and band were on her now, and her smile almost crumbled while she held up her hand in a half wave.

"Alright, well come on up," Will gestured to her, stepping back to sit with the club. Lucy took a breath, stepping out from the band to go stand as told. Her eyes turned up to take in the Glee Club, all looking at her expectantly… and Artie looking at her with encouragement. The nod she gave was barely noticeable, but he saw it: she was ready.

"Hey, I'm… Lucy Collins," she bowed her head.

"Can you tell us a bit about yourself?" Will asked, smiling.

"Not much to say, I've been playing guitar for a couple of years. I joined the jazz ensemble this year when there was an opening. I'm still learning how to do this whole… dancing thing…" she gestured with her free hand, getting some friendly chuckles.

"I've been teaching her," Artie nodded.

"How?" Santana turned to him.

"Anyway…" Lucy continued. "The whole reason I'm up here is this guy right there," she flicked her head toward Artie. "He made me see there's a lot more to me than I thought," she couldn't help but smile, and neither could he. "Oh, and I work at Breadstix."

"I take back everything I said," Santana spoke again, sitting back.

"Alright, Lucy, I assume you have a song ready?" Will asked. She nodded. "Okay, then take it away." She kept on nodding at that, resettling her posture as she took hold of her guitar. Her head was still down, but he could see somewhere in her shoulders that her breath was threatening to leave her.

"Go, Lucy!" he cheered, clapping for her. This roused a few more of them to encourage her, from all sides of the room. She looked back to the band, seeing they were with her, and then… she was ready. She began to play, letting the music guide her movements. The cheering quickly turned into clapping and bopping along as she was. So she got to singing. As the song would progress, the band would join in, accompanying her, which only fuelled her energy even more.

_[L] "Her face is a map of the world / Is a map of the world / You can see she's a beautiful girl / She's a beautiful girl / And everything around her is a silver pool of light / The people who surround her feel the benefit of it / It makes you calm / She holds you captivated in her palm_

_Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / This is what I wanna be / Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / Why the hell it means so much to me_

_Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / This is what I wanna be / Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / Why the hell it means so much to me_

_I feel like walking the world / Like walking the world / You can hear she's a beautiful girl / She's a beautiful girl / She fills up every corner like she's born in black and white / Makes you feel warmer when you're trying to remember / What you heard / She likes to leave you hanging on her word_

_Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / This is what I wanna be / Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / Why the hell it means so much to me_

_Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / This is what I wanna be / Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / Why the hell it means so much to me_

_And she's taller than most / And she's looking at me / I can see her eyes looking from the page of a magazine / Oh she makes me feel like I could be a tower / A big strong tower / With the power to be / The power to give / The power to see, yeah, yeah ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / She got the power to be / The power to give / The power to see, yeah yeah ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / She got the power to be / The power to give / The power to see, yeah yeah ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / She got the power to be / The power to give / The power to see, yeah yeah ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / She got the power to be / The power to give / The power to see, yeah yeah_

_Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / This is what I wanna be / Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / Why the hell it means so much to me_

_Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / This is what I wanna be / Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / Why the hell it means so much to me ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") Oh, yeah-yeah_

_Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / Why the hell it means so much to me, oh, yeah-yeah_

_Suddenly I see ([GIRLS] "Suddenly I see.") / Why the hell it means so much to me"_

When she was done, she had the Glee Club on its feet, applauding. She couldn't stop smiling, feeling her cheeks flush. Artie was giving her this look like 'See? I told you.' She gave him a quick silent thank you. Will eventually called the club back to attention, and they sat back down.

"I've got one thing to say," he addressed them, then turned to Lucy, stepping aside from the chair he'd been seated in to hear her audition. "I believe this belongs to you," he gave her a smile, and the others cheered again. "Welcome to New Directions." She moved toward him, shaking his hand on the way before sitting down, right next to Artie.

The rest of the period seemed destined to carry that same energy that had been built by the audition. Everyone seemed ready to show her the ropes, but then she did have days and days of watching them, as well as Artie's boot camp on her side, so that by the end of the practice, you wouldn't have known she hadn't been sitting with them all this time. She wasn't afraid anymore, and Artie was glad… He knew her to be fearless, and now she could be that again.

When the period ended, and after getting more congratulations and pats on the back from the club and from her friends in the band, Lucy walked off with Artie. "So I guess I'm a card-carrying member now?"

"Oh, you'll get that in the mail in two to three weeks," he nodded, and she laughed. "So you're all good now?" he had to ask.

"All good," she promised.

"Great, because now we have our first assignment," he reminded her, and her eyes flashed wide for a second before resettling.

"Let's go."

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******


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